$9 an hour city snack bar worker laid off: City manager earns $800,000 per year.

[Bluebear]

For years she picked up trash, tidied picnic tables, manned the snack bar and set up park events for the city of Bell. Rosario Torres' $9-an-hour job came with no benefits, but it helped support her family of seven. When she was laid off in 2008, she applied for another city job but never heard back.

Now, reports that Bell city officials are among the most highly compensated municipal employees in the nation has left Torres disgusted. The 36-year-old said she cannot fathom how the city manager earns nearly $800,000 in the same tiny working-class town where she struggles to find employment.

"They said there was no budget for me," Torres said Thursday afternoon, sitting with her children at one of the parks she used to clean. "Now I can't pay my bills. I only pay for water, gas and electricity, and those are late. I'm angry. There need to be changes; they need to find jobs for people here."

The Times reported Thursday that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns nearly twice the salary of President Obama, Police Chief Randy Adams about 50% more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia more than the chief executive for Los Angeles County.

Rizzo was unapologetic, saying he could earn just as much in private business. Several council members said Rizzo had saved the city from near bankruptcy and was worth every penny of his salary.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0716-bell-residents-20100716,0,4326515.story

[Arctic Dave]

1. i would say to that city manager shitbag, "Here is your chance, go find that 800,000 dollar a year s

somewhere else. Don't let the door hit you in the ass when you leave. Shitbag".

[niyad]

29. this from huffpo on bell city salaries--all I can say is WOWWWW

(take a look at his raises, too)
Robert Rizzo Bell


BELL, Calif. -- Bell, one of the poorest cities in Los Angeles County, is coming under fire for its hefty salaries paid to city leaders, including the city manager who rakes in nearly $800,000 a year.

Bell's Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo gets an annual salary of $787,637, and the city's police chief makes $457,000 a year -- about 50-percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and more than double New York City's police commissioner.


Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia makes $376,288 annually, more than most city managers.

*******Rizzo's contract calls for 12-percent raises each July, the same as his top deputy, according to documents obtained under the California Public Records Act.******

Rizzo, who has run Bell's day-to-day civic affairs since 1993, was unapologetic about his salary -- which is nearly twice as much as President Obama's reported salary of $400,000 a year.

"If that's a number people choke on, maybe I'm in the wrong business," he told KTLA partner, The Los Angeles Times. "I could go into private business and make that money. This council has compensated me for the job I've done."

Spaccia agreed, adding: "I would have to argue you get what you pay for."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/robert-rizzo-bell-city-ma_n_647826.html

[hatrack]

50. But it's the unions! It's the labor unions that are destroying the American Dream!!!!!!!!!

:eyes:

[SoCalDem]

2. 36 yr old mother doing a job that , in years past, would have been a teenage job

and then losing that shitty job because rich folks thought she made too much, or they could find someone even cheaper..

there are no "real" jobs for the "throwaway people".

[druidity33]

5. ever read "No more Throw-Away People"?

by Edgar Cahn. He is the founder/inventor of Time Dollars and subsequently Time Banks. Interesting story and excellent organization.

http://www.timebanks.org/

:)



What's the P-ced link about?

[SoCalDem]

6. I originally cited his book, but changed it

This is from a paper written in advance of Clinton's re-election campaign & actually addressed the issues pretty well and did not deal as much with the time-banking aspect that Cahn used.

[Lorien]

3. Psychologists have proven that excessive pay leads to poorer performance

as is evident by the "need" for corporate bailouts and idiotic moves like this one. Studies have shown that if a person makes 50-60k over the amount of pay needed to cover all of their necessary living expenses they "peak" at the level of happiness that money can actually bring a person. Beyond that, excessive amounts of pay have little effect on perceived happiness levels and often cause greater unhappiness. The overpaid begin to believe that because they are unhappy, it must mean that they still haven't received "enough". People are happiest in jobs that not only provide that extra 50-60k, but also allow for creative expression, contribution, and flexibility. $800,000.00 a year is detrimental to having a job done well. His salary needs to be cut down to $200k tops. Minimum wage should be bumped up to $12 an hour.

[eShirl]

37. interesting!

+1

[Mimosa]

4. This type of administrative fiscal abuse is why cities and states are in trouble.

Bluebear, you've nailed it. This practice of robbing the taxpayers and floating bonds to pay for excessive salaries and pensions has nearly wrecked many states, cities and even the country.

[Ilsa]

7. The excuse given by Boards of Directors has been that it is necessary to recruit

good talent. What alot of horseshit.

[SunnySong]

8. Exactly as if 250,000 a year would only garner apps from felons and high school dropouts. nt

[Ilsa]

10. Hey, I'll go fuck things up for them for only $300,000 a year. At least I have

a finance degree and old experience in commercial banking.
Thank the goddess I wised up and retrained and became a nurse.

[patrice]

9. Money is ponzi scheme. Those folks have a whole lot more of nothing than Rosario has.

[Canuckistanian]

11. 800 grand for a fucking city manager?

In Bell, CA? I've never even heard of the place. That's inexcusable for a public servant. MAYORS shouldn't even earn that much.

Eh, why do I bother?

[Mimosa]

12. The President of the USA earns less!!!

From Answers:


Traditionally, the President is the highest-paid public employee. President Obama currently earns $400,000 per year, along with a $150,000 expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment. The most recent raise in salary was approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1999 and went into effect in 2001; prior to the change, the President earned $200,000, plus expense accounts.

[KillCapitalism]

25. Yeah that's fucked up.

A good cardiac surgeon doesn't even make $800K, and there's no way in hell a city mananger's job is more demanding or important than a surgeon's.

[JDPriestly]

55. The City of Bell is poor.

The median income is about $40,000, and 65% of residents over 25 do not have a high school diploma.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0716-bell-residents-20100716,0,4326515.story

As of the census<11> of 2000, there were 36,664 people, 8,918 households, and 7,615 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,708.1/km² (14,802.5/mi²). There were 9,215 housing units at an average density of 1,434.6/km² (3,720.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.45% White, 1.28% Black or African American, 1.28% Native American, 1.07% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 43.09% from other races, and 4.78% from two or more races. 90.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 8,918 households out of which 57.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 18.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.6% were non-families. 11.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.05 and the average family size was 4.27.

In the city the population was spread out with 35.3% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 14.1% from 45 to 64, and 5.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,946, and the median income for a family was $30,504. Males had a median income of $22,596 versus $17,025 for females. The per capita income for the city was $9,905. About 21.2% of families and 24.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.7% of those under age 18 and 16.7% of those age 65 or over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell,_California

[Urban Prairie]

13. Saved the city from near bankruptcy?

So what for example, did their esteemed city manager do to help stave off bankruptcy?

Lay off all of their lowest paid city employees?



"Bell is being investigated by the Los Angeles County district attorney over the compensation of its City Council members"

Maybe there will be some small consolation in store for Torres, if the investigation finds evidence of corruption and collusion during meetings that may have involved setting the salaries for the council between them and their city management.

Bell, CA had a population of about 36,657 (90% Hispanic) in 2009, with an average per capita income of $13,244:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Bell-California.html

[whathehell]

14. I'm glad they're investigating, at least....This situation so sucks.

[girl gone mad]

24. Of course he saved them from bankruptcy.

If they went bankrupt, they would be able to renegotiate his salary and they might be able to get out of paying his bloated pension.

[Starry Messenger]

15. This state is so insane.

Meanwhile the Governator is trying to cut all state workers back to minimum wage to help close the budget gap (among many other cuts in human services). I know city and state aren't the same thing, but where is the money for these munificent salaries coming from?

[4lbs]

16. $800K per year for one person? That is employed by a city government?

Yeah, that makes sense.

Much more than taking that $800K, and giving 30 people work at $24K per year with benefits (that's $12 per hour).

:sarcasm:

EDIT: Rizzo thinks he could earn just as much in the private sector? OK, let him resign, save the city all that money, or let the city use that money to hire 30 people. We'll see if Rizzo truly can earn that much in the private sector. I seriously doubt it. Not unless he becomes a Corporate CEO or VP or something.

[fishwax]

17. 800,000 per year for a city of about 36,000

:wow:

[blueredneck]

18. Jawdropping

I'm incredulous. That is crazy money. How in God's name did his salary pass without making headlines???

[Bluebear]

42. Indeed.

[AlecBGreen]

19. WOW!!!!

my hometown has a comparable size (25,000) and the city manager I believe earns ~$150,000.

800k is obscene for a town that size

[roxiejules]

20. Clearly Rizzo is in the wrong business

Public service is also public trust and the salaries commanded in Bell are not just out of line, they are unethical.

[keroro gunsou]

49. dude is lucky

that no one's tried a robin hood on his over-paid ass.... that said, this news story and investigation just painted a HUGE bullseye on his back.... hopefully he'll do the right thing and find a way to give back to the city some of that money.

[Greyhound]

53. You're joking, right?

[keroro gunsou]

62. joking....

about what? the robin hood beatdown he deserves, or him doing the right thing?

i'm still dumb enough to believe that people can do the right thing, even though bitter experience has shown me otherwise....

[Rex]

21. Inequality is at an all time high, everywhere and the poor are getting pissed off.

Hungry tummies will do things full tummies would never do.

[U4ikLefty]

22. The typical City Manager in So Cal makes about 100k-150k per year.

When I first heard the story on KPFK, I heard $80,000 & I thought that was reasonable. Then I read the paper & saw that it was $800,000 and I was like WTF!?!

As a civil engineer I know that is WAAAAY out of bounds. As someone who grew up in these neighborhoods, I can attest that these salaries are indeed outrageous. To be fair, many of the SE L.A. cities have cleaned up their corruption in the past 10 years, but many like Bell have lagged behind.

BTW, the Police Chief in Bell makes over $700,000 per year which is almost double what the L.A. Chief makes.

The problem is that most of the city is poor and/or immigrants who don't like to speak out. For obvoius reasons.

[SB37]

23. Holy Crap! Obama makes 400K a year!

This guy must be doing one hell of a job as the city manager to make twice as much as the fucking president!

[Urban Prairie]

26. "Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia makes $376,288 annually, more than most city managers."

Then there is this:

The city of Maywood will lay off all city employees and begin contracting police services with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department effective July 1, officials said.

In addition to contracting with the Sheriff's Department, the Maywood City Council voted unanimously Monday night to lay off an estimated 100 employees and contract with neighboring Bell, which will handle other city services such as finance, records management, parks and recreation, street maintenance and others. Maywood will be billed about $50,833 monthly, which officials said will save $164,375 annually.

"We will become 100% a contracted city," said Angela Spaccia, Maywood's interim city manager.

Maywood to lay off all city employees, dismantle Police Department

Hmmm...so Angela is doing double duty?? Wonder if she is getting paid by both cities...Naah!!

"Top officials have routinely received hefty annual raises in recent years. Rizzo's contract calls for 12% raises each July, the same as his top deputy, according to documents obtained under the California Public Records Act"

Is A City Manager Worth $800,000?

And then when they retire, CALPERS will pay each of them a HUGE pension. If the city manager only puts in 20 years of government service (even if he started as a minimum wage street sweeper), Rizzo still will get 60% of the average of his last three years salary. If he has 30 years of service, he will get 90%.

$472,582.00 or $708,873.00...not counting future raises...Wow!!

[girl gone mad]

32. Unbelievable.

Why do people put up with this?

[lumberjack_jeff]

27. "Saved?" That's past tense.

If the city isn't in near bankruptcy... now... Rizzo should take his Zorro routine somewhere he's needed.

[2Design]

28. Most of these high paying government jobs are held by republicans or conservatives n/t

[Initech]

30. Tells you who the real crooks in this country are.

[niyad]

31. and the part-time city council members make over 100k

The Los Angeles Times revealed in a front-page story that Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo is paid a salary of nearly $800,000 a year. His contract calls for annual increases of 12%. That means his one-year increase in salary next year will be over $94,000.

If he stays with the job - and why wouldn't he - and the contract doesn't change, the city manager of a city with a 37,000 population will be making more than a million dollars a year in a couple of years.

Highly paid public administrators in Bell don't stop with the city manager. Police Chief Randy Adams pulls down $457,000 a year. The Times article points out that salary is 50% more than the yearly salary of the Los Angeles police chief and L.A. County sheriff.

Even the assistant Bell city manager is paid more than the L.A. police chief.

The Bell City Council members take care of themselves as well. They are part-time employees who make $100,000 a year. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office is investigating the city council salaries.

. . .

http://foxandhoundsdaily.com/blog/joel-fox/7345-coming-soon-a-1-million-a-year-public-employee

[Jennicut]

33. The city's police chief makes $457,000 a year

per this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/robert-rizzo-bell-city-ma_n_647826.html.

What is going on in that town?!

[MajorChode]

34. The heads of Federal Agencies earn no more than a member of congress

And some federal agencies have more employees than this entire town. This town needs to get a new town council.

[upi402]

35. where'd my country go? n/t

[Mimosa]

36. Looks like laws at state level will have to be made limiting municipal and school board type salarie

You guys wouldn't believe the amount of theft which occurred in each level of pre-Katrina NOLA government.

The school board members paid themselves highly, gave themselves Escalades, Lincoln Navigators and similar percs like eating at Ruth's Chris Steaks all the time. An audit in 2004 showed several consecutive years of an unaccounted 25 million a year! And many schools lacked supplies, had broken, unclean systems. And the thieves were never prosecuted by the DA.

I think we all know of counties, cities and states which have been robbed by elected officials and bureaucrats. It seems there should be a ZERO tolerance policy re: even the smallest ethics violations. And the Justice dept needs to do more investigations and stings in order to put some fear into those who are tempted to steal from taxpayers.

[glowing]

38. That's the problem with the officials deciding on their own pay. Its disgusting.

They should be the first forced to decrease their sallary.

[tabasco]

39. Are there voters in this city? How did a city manager get such a ridiculously high salary?

$800,000???????

Time to lower salaries and taxes in that burg. By a lot.

[Jkid]

40. Why a city manager needs a salary of $800,000?

$100,000 would be more than enough for a job like that.

[Hubert Flottz]

41. If that city is in such good shape due to the manager's good work

why can't the city afford to pay it's employees instead of laying them off?

[Vinca]

43. This has got to be a con job by a group of greedy politicians.

If the guy earned $200,000 a year it would be too much for a burg of this size.

[rasputin1952]

44. "Rizzo was unapologetic, saying he could earn just as much in private business."

OK, go for it.

Send in your resignation, no golden parachute deals either, just resign, turn in the keys and shuffle off those resumes buddy, (good luck finding a job!)

Citizens need to rise up and toss the people into the street...destitute!

[liberation]

45. I just want to know where in private industry this two-bit city manager can earn 800K a year

[GreenStormCloud]

46. Lets compare his 800K with the mayors of some big American cities.

Chicago 205K
New York Official Salary is 225,000 (Bloomie declines a salary and accept a token $1.00 a year.)
Houston About 150K
Dallas 60K
Seattle 148K
Omaha 180K

That's enough cities to make my point.

[WinkyDink]

47. The bosses always want pay equal to private (See: School administrators). The workers are always

told, "We can't compare" (See: Teachers).

[freebrew]

48. OK, the $800,000 question:

where does a city of 36,000(?) find that kind of money?

[gtar100]

52. Just my imagination - but it sounds like money laundering.

I would also guess that most of those 36,000 people don't realize what's going on.

And this is just one small town. How many more across the country are doing stuff like this?

[Greyhound]

51. "Saved" the city from bankruptcy?

How? Well, by ensuring that it goes bankrupt, of course!

This kind of shit is epidemic in Cali.
:grr:
:kick: & R

[JDPriestly]

54. So, let Rizzo work in private business.

[bobburgster]

56. You have got to be kidding!

This crap has got to stop. The country should be outraged, and that includes every politician.

[jmowreader]

57. I live in the same town but in Idaho...

We too have about 36,000 residents, and our economy is better than Bell's is...but our entire city payroll--the police and fire people are paid by Kootenai County, so they don't count--is lower than what Bell pays just its city manager.

(On edit: our mayor makes $2400 per month. I don't think ANYONE in town makes $800,000 per year, including Duane Hagadone--and he owns the place.)

[SILVER__FOX52]

58. A lot of Cities in the Country have become............

little fiefdoms. I live in city where you can become a millionaire by being a cop and most of the city counsel are cops. It's crazy.

[blondeatlast]

59. Disgusting. The city could hire twenty more cops, firemen,

librarians, etc. for that.

[niyad]

60. . .

[WinkyDink]

61. My feeble brain cannot compose a sufficent imprecation.

[Initech]

63. We have got to stop justifying these ridiculous executive salaries.

I plan to start my own business but I don't intend to rob it blind like these Neanderthal executives do.